CIP Update

May 30, 2008

This newsletter is for public agencies, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders involved or interested in public-private partnerships for joint emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.

 

Michigan State University (MSU) produces the newsletter through the Critical Incident Protocol (CIP)-Community Facilitation Program under a grant awarded by the Training & Exercise Integration Division, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This newsletter provides ideas, suggestions, best practices, and lessons learned to establish critical incident protocols using public-private partnerships.

 
Michigan State University through the CIP Program will “enhance cities, counties, and region’s capabilities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from man-made and natural disasters through public and private sector collaboration, communication, and cooperation.”  MSU facilitates public-private partnerships and the CIP Program is free of charge to participating communities.

 

Please visit our website at www.cip.msu.edu for more information about the program.

 

Participating Communities in the CIP Program
The CIP Program has been initiated in 38 communities in 22 states with over 3,000 participants establishing public-private partnerships for joint management of critical incidents. We are looking to work with other cities, counties and regions. Is there a location in the nation that you think may be interested in developing a public-private partnership? If so, please let us know.

 

Currently, we are working with the following communities:
Alabama:  Hoover
ArizonaCasa Grande
CaliforniaMountain View
Colorado:  Littleton
Connecticut:  Norwalk

Florida:  Western Panhandle
Illinois:  Lake-Cook Regional, Libertyville
Indiana:  Evansville
Kansas
Douglas County
MarylandAnnapolis, Carroll County, Rockville
MichiganMarquette County, Monroe, Oakland County
Missouri/Illinois:  Gateway Citizen Corps Coalition, St. Louis
Montana:  Lewis & Clark County
NevadaClark County
North Carolina:  Buncombe County, Greensboro
Ohio:  Brooklyn
PennsylvaniaAllentown, Bethlehem, Northampton County, Perkiomen Valley
Texas:  Dallas
Utah:  Layton, Sandy City
Virginia:  Arlington County, Richmond
Washington:  Redmond

WisconsinBrown County, Dane County, Eau Claire County, Milwaukee, Racine County, Superior
 
CIP Program Activities
May 29, 2008:  Palm Springs, CA (CA Homeland Security Conference)

June 4, 2008:  Phoenix, AZ (EEI, Business Continuity Conference)

June 5, 2008:  Eau Claire County (Risk Assessment Workshop)

June 11, 2008:  Horry County, SC (Initiating the CIP Program)

June 19, 2008:  Madison, WI (Train-the-Trainer on CIP Program)

July 9, 2008:  Winnebago County, WI (Initiating the CIP Program)

July 10, 2008:  Outagamie County, WI (Initiating the CIP Program)

August 1, 2008:  Columbia, SC (Initiating the CIP Program)

September 14/15, 2008:  Atlanta, GA (ASIS Conference)

October 7, 2008:  Dane County, WI (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)

October 21, 2008:  Atlanta, GA (IEDC Conference)

October 26, 2008:  Richmond, VA (EPA Conference)

 

Welcome Superior, WI to the CIP Program

We would like to welcome Superior, Wisconsin as the 38th community to participate in the CIP Program.  Fifty-six participants from the executive and management levels of both the public and private sectors collaborated to create a partnership for community and organizational preparedness.  Superior, an international port across from Duluth, MN is located on the western end of the Great Lakes.  This community had already established a number of partnership commitments through various entities, but was looking to broaden their approach.

 

A special thanks to the sponsors, the Superior Fire Department, Superior-Douglas County Chamber of Commerce, Murphy Oil USA, The Development Association, Enbridge Corporation, Superior Business Improvement District, and the City of Superior for their active participation.  We would also like to thank all participants for their involvement in the process, including those from Douglas County, State of Wisconsin, and the Duluth, MN area.

 

To date, over 3,000 public and private sector professionals and stakeholders have participated in the various workshops of the CIP Program.  In addition, we are currently discussing program opportunities with 30 prospective communities.

 

Train-the-Trainer Workshop on Public/Private Partnerships

Michigan State University is offering a ‘free’ train-the-trainer workshop for public and private sector stakeholders interested in developing or enhancing public/private partnerships for joint crisis management.  This workshop is based upon the CIP Program and focuses on a community-wide partnership; however, public agencies, businesses, and non-profit organizations will find the material applicable to other types of partnership building.

 

The workshop will be held on Thursday, June 19, 2008, from 8am to 5pm at the Madison Area Technical College, Rm. D322, Downtown Education Center, 211 N. Carroll St., Madison, WI.  This workshop will include the concepts and practices used in the CIP Program.

 

For more information or to RSVP by June 16, 2008, please contact Brit Weber at weberbr@msu.edu or (517) 355-2227.

 

Emergency Services Sector: Call for Model Practices by June 5th

The Emergency Services Sector Coordinating Council (ESSCC), in coordination with its public-safety partners and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is seeking examples of model practices that maintain and improve the ability of the sector to protect and preserve its own integrity in an imminent or ongoing emergency.

 

Therefore, the ESSCC is asking that you review the below list of examples of the types of plans, procedures, systems, and networks that we have identified as areas where there may be model policies or procedures in the field.  Please note this list is not exhaustive.

 

As you review the list, take a moment to consider if you have any plans, procedures, systems, and networks that may fit the examples below and which you would be willing to share on a national level.  For example, do you have a great Continuity of Operations Plan that addresses extended emergency relief plans for your workforce?  Or do you have a high-functioning cyber security program to ensure redundant communications during an emergency?  If you have a plan, procedure, system, or network that you think fits within the kinds of examples listed below, which focuses on maintaining and/or improving the ability of the sector to protect and preserve its own integrity in an imminent or ongoing emergency, please e-mail or fax a brief written description of that item to Emily Miller at emily_miller@sra.com or by facsimile at 703-284-5001.

 

A panel of state and local practitioners, representing the fire service, law enforcement, EMS and Emergency Management disciplines will review the submissions.  The deadline for submission is June 5, 2008.  Please contact Emily Miller with any questions or concerns at 703-235-3697 (EMR-ISAC, Bulletin #03-8, May 21, 2008)”.

 

A Couple of Statistics and an Excellent Resource

The FEMA/EMI Emergency Management Higher Education Program Report is an excellent source on emergency management, homeland security, and crisis management and is emailed daily to subscribers at no charge.  To learn more about this resource, please go to: http://www.training.fema.gov/emiweb/edu and sign-up for their free email service.

 

For example, in the May 21, 2008 report, Acting President Mary Elcano of the American Red Cross on May 20th at a conference at FEMA headquarters stated, “We have an average of 200 disasters a day, every day, in the United States, and the volunteers of the Red Cross are there.”  Further, President Elcano shared with participants at the same conference that, “Our surveys shows that only 7% of the American public is ready for a plan for a disaster…It’s time to get prepared (FEMA/EMI Emergency Management Higher Education Program Report, May 21, 2008).”

 

Public and Private Sector Training

We often share with others information about organizations that offer public-private sector training, seminars, or related opportunities.  The Institute for Corporate and Public Safety, NorthWest Arkansas Community College offers a variety of courses that strengthens cooperative efforts among public and private sector entities.  For example, they offer terrorism awareness in the workplace and business continuity planning, which are funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

 

For more information, please go to: http://icps.nwacc.edu/index.php.

 

Building Community Partnerships through the Transportation Industry

The National Training Institute has developed and is currently facilitating the Connecting Communities Public Transportation Emergency Preparedness workshop.  The workshop is designed to coordinate the assets and specialized resources of the transit and transportation systems with the local, county, and state response and emergency management agencies.

 

The Connecting Communities Program builds public-private sector collaboration through discussions, joint planning, review of past practices, analyzing best practices, and to improve overall interoperability and response to critical incidents.

 

For more information on this program, please go to: http://www.connectingcommunities.net.

 

Free Public or Private Disaster Software Program for Estimating Losses

Our thanks to Eric Holdeman, Disaster Zone Alert at: http://www.disaster-zone.com, who provided this tip.

 

FEMA is offering to the public and private sector their HAZUS-MH program, a powerful risk assessment program for analyzing potential losses from floods, hurricane winds, and earthquakes.  The program includes loss estimates from physical damage to residential and commercial buildings, schools, critical facilities, and infrastructure; economic loss from busienss interruptions, lost jobs, repair and reconstruction costs; and, social impacts that include shelter requirements, displaced households, and population exposed to floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes.  For more information, please go to: http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/hazus.

 

Recent Postings to the CIP Information Exchange Website
The CIP Information Exchange website is a large database for public and private sector professionals interested in homeland security, emergency preparedness, business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency management.  It also contains research publications, government documents, news items, and more.

 

To enter the CIP Information Exchange website, please go to https://angel.msu.edu and click on Angel Guest Account from the drop-down menu.  Click on proceed and in the next webpage box, enter “msu.msu@angel” and “partnership” (both without quotation marks) as the password. On the next page, click on Critical Incident Protocol (CIP) – Community Facilitation, which launches the main menu.

 

Located in the folder "Bulletin Board - Information for all Communities" are a variety of recent postings, including:

o       NIMS/ICS in a Private Sector Company

o       2008 Emergency Response Guidebook

o       Business ‘Emergency Preparedness’ Certification Standards

o       Strengthening the Use of Risk Management Principles in Homeland Security

 

There are numerous other resources located on the website. To locate a specific topic, utilize the "search" function. 

 

Past Newsletters
If you are interested in viewing past CIP Update newsletters, please go to www.cip.msu.edu and select "Newsletters" from the main menu.

 

Closing
If you have any topics and/or ideas for a future CIP Update newsletter, please contact Brit Weber at weberbr@msu.edu or (517) 355-2227 or other MSU staff members. About every three weeks you will receive this newsletter via email. If you no longer wish to be on this list, please reply to this email.

 

Disclaimer
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or Michigan State University.

 

Source

EMR-ISAC CIP Bulletin 3-08.  (May 21, 2008).  Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

 

FEMA/EMI Emergency Management Higher Education Program Report.  (May 21, 2008).  U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

 

Brit Weber
Program Director
CIP-Community Facilitation Program
School of Criminal Justice
Michigan State University
1407 S. Harrison Rd., 335 Nisbet Bldg.
East Lansing, MI 48823
Work:  (517)  355-2227   Cell:  (517) 206-1640
weberbr@msu.edu
Please visit our website:  http://www.cip.msu.edu